Two-Year Blogiversary and 2018 Year in Review

As my second year of blogging comes to a close, I feel compelled to write some sort of ‘year in review’ post. Here it is. In this post I’m going to share some of my favourite travel experiences from 2018, how my blog has changed this year, top posts of the year, and plans for year three.

For those of you just finding me, I started this blog at the beginning of 2017. Check out my one-year blogiversary post for a quick catch-up and 2017 year in review.

Favourite Travel Experiences of 2018

For the first half of this year I didn’t do any travelling. I can’t even think of anything I did in Japan… Disappointing.

In July, my husband and I had a short trip to Okinawa where we made our own Ryukyu glass. I wanted to go sea kayaking, but we didn’t get around to it.

Almost immediately after coming back from Okinawa I went to Canada, where I stayed for the next three months. The purpose of going back for so long was for my PhD research, and I didn’t do a lot of leisure travelling. Mainly because I was $$broke$$. But I spent a lot of quality time with my parents and extended family who I almost never get to see anymore. Research stress aside, it was an enjoyable three months.

After coming back to Japan in October I made my first trip to Kobe. I haven’t written anything about it yet, but I can say Kobe Port is scenic and peaceful. There are a lot of boat cruises that I would like to try.

Blog Growth in 2018

Time for some blog stats. Here is how my blog has grown in the last year:

Email subscribers: ssssssssecret

Facebook 2017: 35; 2018: 82 (up 47)

Twitter 2017: 2,477; 2018: 3,373 (up 896)

Pinterest 2017: 87; 2018: 418 (up 331)

Instagram: HATE IT WITH A BURNING PASSION

Thoughts: Other than basic maintenance, I haven’t paid much attention to my social media followings since I went back to Canada in the summer. I’ll check them often and occasionally like, follow, or comment somewhere, but I haven’t been focused on them.

I’m *this* close to deleting my Instagram account entirely.

I would have liked my email subscribers to have increased more than it did, but this is a symptom of a deeper problem that I still need to work on.

I’m happy that these posts are the most popular. I know that I worked hard on these posts and put in a lot of research and information, so I’m happy that people are finding them. I actually wrote them all in 2017, but they are still on top.

Plans for 2019

Travel: As for travel in 2019, right now I only have one plan. I’m going to Hong Kong for a week. My plan is to hang around and eat thing and take photos.

Besides that, I don’t have anything planned at the moment.

Blog: I don’t have any massive plans for my blog next year other than just keep doing what I’m doing. Not very exciting, I know. 2018 didn’t go as spectacularly with my blog as I hoped. I’m rethinking a lot of things about my blog at the moment.

Final thoughts on my year in review

As I start my third year of blogging, I have to say I’m not full of as much excitement as I was one year ago. Last year I had big dreams and plans that didn’t come into vision. I’m wary about being overly optimistic this time. This year I’m trying to be more realistic with my blog and my life. Whatever that means.

I do want to thank all my readers and followers, especially those who have commented often and from the beginning. 🙂